MMAENGA

APPENDIX
Mara van Welie
Merel Witteman
Anne Lycia ten Cate
Esther Jongsma
Appendix, January 2008
MMAENGA Appendix, January 2008
Our contacts

Name: Rudy Rabbinge
Position: Rudy Rabbinge is a member of the Eerste Kamer (Dutch House of Lords) and of the PvdA, a
Dutch political party. In addition, he’s a professor of Sustainable Development and
System Innovation at Wageningen University, counselor of Wageningen Graduate
Schools and advisor of numerous organizations and institutes. This is only a partial list
of his positions.
Contact: Rudy Rabbinge taught us a lot about setting up a business plan and about how we should set
up our plans. He pointed out that we should clearly state our objectives, that we aim too
high and that it’s important to write down our plans elaborately step by step as well as
explain how we think our plan is going to work out. He also pointed out the strengths of our
project.

Name: Mrs. A.E. Nyanda
Position: Coordinator of the Mwanza Rural Housing programme
Contact: Mrs. Nyanda gave us a presentation about her project. In this programme she builds houses
in Tanzania in a sustainable way. She was awarded the ASHDEN Award for this project, as
well as a United Nations award on World Habitat Day. We had a meeting with her in which
she told us about the important things we should take into consideration regarding
development work in general. We’ve learned that a good project should be sustainable as
well as participative. A big advantage of this project is the use of waste as a resource.
Furthermore, Mrs. Nyanda told us not to be afraid to change things, but that we must do
this by using training. We should be patient and dedicated, visit a lot and evaluate every
aspect of our project.

Name: Bert Cesar
Position: Executive director Netherlands ‐ Thai Chamber of Commerce
Contact: Bert Cesar told us that he supports our project and also gave us information about Thailand’s
culture. He has provided useful information about areas in Thailand where we could set up
our factory and some things that we should take into consideration when starting a business
in Thailand.

Name: Gijs van Hengstum
Position: Editor of the scientific youth magazine Explore
Contact: Gijs van Hengstum has given us a unique opportunity to make our project known to a larger
audience by offering to write three articles about our project for Explore.

Name: Henk Gurp
Position: Teacher at IJsselstijn College
Contact: Henk Gurp stirred up our enthusiasm to research what insects had to offer and he
told us a lot about the possibilities of preparing insects as food. He gave us several
cookbooks and took us to the Horecava market in the RAI on January 8th. It was through him
that we got in contact with numerous experts who convinced us that eating insects has a
future.

Name: Leo Koopman
Position: Chief of Nursery Entomology Wageningen University
Contact: Leo has given us lots of information about how to grow insects and about growing
cockroaches in particular. He provided us with the necessities for growing insects
safely, and showed us around several insect farms.

Name: Dr. Norbert Maak
Position: Director Regulatory Affairs and Technical Relations Henkel KGaA
Contact: He may be able to facilitate quality testing on our chitosan.

Name: Hendrik de Lint
Position: Information and Service Desk of Greenpeace Netherlands
Contact: Hendrik told us about the ruined mangroves and about the role the shrimp
industry played in the destruction of these mangroves.

Name: Dennis Oonincx
Position: Enthusiastic reptile owner
Contact: Dennis feeds insects to his reptiles and knows a lot about these insects. He shared some of
his knowledge with us.

Name: Hans Smid
Position: Laboratory of Entomology Plant Sciences
Contact: Hans told us about the problems we can encounter when working with cockroaches
and which kind of cockroaches we could best use for growing. He also
gave us permission to use some of his insect photos.

Name: Dr. Ir. Arnold van Huis
Position: Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University
Contact: Arnold redirected us to Leo Koopman.

Name: Jan Huijsman
Position: Works at a pest control company
Contact: Jan told us about the most efficient way to counter a possible outbreak of
cockroaches.

Name: Bart Hogebrink
Position: Working on a project on developing insect farms
Contact: Bart won TNO’s ‘Not Invented Yet’ contest with his project. He showed that there are
many people who think that eating insects has a future. Bart supports our project.

Name: Willem Stevens
Position: The chitin expert who lives in Thailand.
Contact: Gave us detailed information about the production of chitin en chitosan.

Name: Jolanda Beerendonk
Position: Project manager of the national work group on India
Contact: Jolanda pointed out that cockroaches aren’t eaten in India.

Name: Floor van den Elsen
Position: Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University

Contact: Floor let us know that she was enthusiastic about our project, she gave us some
e‐mail addresses and told us to go to Wageningen University’s literature archive.

Name: Rob van Haarlem
Position: Studium Generale Wageningen UR
Contact: Rob has invited us to come by for an evening to tell something about our project.

Name: Mariska van Rijswijk
Position: Third year architecture student at the Technical University in Delft
Contact: Mariska advised us about using the right materials for our factory and the costs of these
materials. She also developed our sketches of the factory into orderly 3D drawings.

Name: Marian Kole
Position: Breeder
Contact: Marian gave us information about cockroaches and provided us with
cockroaches to set up an experimental breeding‐facility.

Name: Mark Snuverink
Position: Student at Wageningen University
Contact: He showed us how he breeds cockroaches and gave us some tips about how to
do it ourselves.

Name: Tjandra Setiadi
Contact: Tjandra told us that Indonesia isn’t a suitable country for our project, as there are no
abandoned mangroves there and the local population doesn’t eat cockroaches.

Name: Happy Shrimp Company
Contact: Employees from this company told us in which countries the shrimp industry is most
active. The countries they named were mostly Asian.

Name: Phol Kitsawad
Position: Director Technical & Engineering Department, Natagrj Chitosan Fungicide
Contact: Possible buyer of chitosan, one of our products.

Eating insects, why?
Hunger
Hunger: a worldwide problem that costs millions of lives every year.
How do we address this? Donate money? Food transports? Yes, that might help. But it doesn’t solve the
problem in the long term. A solution must be found that enables people to produce their own food. But how
can this be done?
Hunger stems from another major problem: poverty. Poverty is often an issue in places that aren’t suitable
for agriculture and cattle breeding.
A solution to fight hunger therefore has to be a long‐term solution that can take place in areas that have
barren soil. Preferably, such a solution also has low start‐up costs.

Insects
For people in poor areas, food needs to be found that’s very nutritious, but much easier to obtain than the
conventional breeding of pigs, cows and goats for meat.
The solution: an insect factory. Insect meat is high‐quality food, full of essential fatty acids, proteins and
minerals. Also, insects can be processed in many different ways. There are about 1400 kinds of edible
insects.

Easy and cheap!
Setting up an insect nursery is easy and inexpensive.
Insects multiply very quickly, so the yield of an insect farm is very high. Insects don’t need a specific type of
food, which makes it possible to set up a nursery in infertile areas. A nursery can be kept running all year,
because insect breeding is not seasonal.

Breeding also in poor areas
Insect food has to meet only a few criteria. Organic waste can be used as food for the insects. This is very
cheap and might even be free. The insects can just eat what is available in the region, even if the region is
very poor.
Insects require relatively little food. One kilo of insect meat requires far less plant foods than one kilo of
conventional meat. Insects use their food in a much more efficient way than cows and pigs do.
Because a large part of the insect can be eaten and only a small amount of food is needed, the return is high
and little waste is produced.

Low production costs
Insects require little space. The amount of living space per kilo used by a cow is far bigger than the living
space used by one kilo insects. This reduces the production costs even more. Using the same space, much
more food can be produced.

No environmental objections

The production of conventional meat causes worldwide problems. Those problems will only increase as the
world's population, and thus the food demand from China and India, continues to grow. Various types of
greenhouse gases are emitted due to cattle breeding, and it is one of the main causes of acidification of the
environment due to the emission of ammonia. Insect nurseries do not have these problems. Insects do not
emit greenhouse gases or ammonia.

It’s already a delicacy!
In large parts of the world people already eat insects. It is however a misconception that people eat insects
only because there’s no other food available. Eating insects is inexpensive, but in many parts of the world, it
is also a delicacy! Eating insects should become a habit in many parts of the world: it is a solution to food
shortage and doesn’t have lot of the problems that conventional meat has.

Insects as food
Eating insects would thus be a great solution to food shortage and hunger. Insects are very nutritious and
many different species can be eaten.
Setting up an insect nursery and keeping it running is cheap, easy and has a high yield. A nursery can be set
up in poor areas and produces no greenhouse gases, ammonia and heat, and very little waste.
In various parts of the world, insects are already eaten as a delicacy, so they’re not necessarily bad‐tasting
and they can be processed in lots of different ways.
Therefore, to fight the growing problem of hunger and the increasing demand for food, eating insects is a
great solution!

Method of breeding
After consulting insect breeding expert Leo Koopman of WUR University, we decided to set up our own
nursery with various tanks for cockroaches in various life stages. The advantage of this is system is that it is
easier to determine when the cockroaches are fertile, and when they are almost dead.
We want to breed the cockroaches ‘dry’. This means that we won’t keep them on sand or some other
material, but rather on the bottom of the tank, which is easier to keep clean. To create a nice living
environment, we put old paper, egg cartons, and other things in the tanks so that the cockroaches can find
shelter. Although most of the cockroaches can’t fly, we close the tanks with strong wire netting to prevent
them from escaping (see Appendix M ‘Problems’).

The tanks will be hung in racks. In this way, the floor will remain free of tanks, allowing a good overview
and making it easier to keep the room clean. The tanks are easy to empty by taking out the bottom , and
letting all the cockroaches fall out of their tank into another one.
We will need about 100 tanks; there is space for approximately 2000 cockroaches in a 50x30x50 cm tank.
Cockroaches like to live very close to, over, and under each other. To make the factory run smoothly we shall
have to kill one tank of cockroaches every week, or a few times a week, and keep them for subsequent
processing.

The region where we want to set up our factory is known for its fruit production. There is a good chance that
we can obtain rotting fruit from fruit farmers in the region. This fruit contains a high percentage of fluid. By
putting a few pieces of this rotting fruit in the cockroach tanks, the roaches will have good, healthy food and
extra fluid, so that there is no need to put other fluid‐installations in the tanks. If it appears that the rotting
fruit doesn’t contain enough fluid, or if we can not buy enough rotting fruit, we could put wet wood in the
tanks and occasionally sprinkle it with water. According to Dennis Ooninx and Mark Snuverink, experienced
cockroach growers, cockroaches are able to absorb fluid themselves because of the way in which wood takes
up and repels moisture. This works better than putting a can of water in the tanks.
The nursery itself
We start with some cockroaches in each of several life stages. The number of cockroaches with which we
start depends on the size of the nursery we can buy. A notion of the set‐up and running of our nursery can
be obtained by looking at the description below, which uses the example of 1000 adult‐cockroaches: 800
female and 200 male.
Weeks after starting Number of egg‐packages
1 800
2 1600
3 2400
4 3200

5 4000
6 4800
7 5600
8 6400

After eight weeks the cockroaches in the eggs laid in week one will hatch from their egg‐packages.
After another eight weeks all the egg‐packages will have hatched into cockroaches.
So after another eight weeks there are 1000 + 6400 x 16 = 103,400 cockroaches.

Because cockroaches multiply very quickly, it will be necessary to kill a large number of them every few
weeks. There will be approximately 2.000.000 cockroaches in our factory. The increase in number of
cockroaches graphed as a function of time will look like this:

time Æ

Our own house breeding (!!)

Cookies
FoodFactory
Bart Hogebrink participated in a contest called “Not Yet Invented” by TNO, in which young people were
challenged to think of ideas that can change our future in a positive way. His plan is to set up a Food Factory
to fight hunger in developing countries by making high‐protein nutritious biscuits from bred insects. The jury
members (Alexander Ribbink of TomTom, Peter Werkhoven, Fietje Vaas, Ben and Celeste Indeed Ponsion)
picked his idea as the best plan to change the future in a positive way; it may seem obvious, yet it’s new and
creative. As a part of the winner’s prize, TNO is going to realize his idea. The project’s status can be followed
at www.inivention.nl.
Our biscuits
We had a similar idea and e‐mailed Bart immediately. In our e‐mail contact he told us he would enjoy
working with us and think about what such a factory should look like and how it should be built. As for now,
we have developed a recipe for a basic cookie. In practice, we hope to be able to process fruit, nuts and
various other regional products in order to develop a nutritious high‐protein biscuit made of cockroach flour.
Production of our cakes
We are counting on about 40.000 cockroaches per week that can be used for cookies. After peeling, drying
and grinding of the cockroach meat we should have 16 kilos of flour.
Requirements for 500 cookies
‐‐ 2500 g flour (minimum amount of flour from cockroaches)
‐‐ 1500 g butter
‐‐ 1000 g sugar
‐‐ Some salt
‐‐ 30 minutes in the oven at a temperature of 180 degrees C.
We can therefore produce 3200 biscuits every week. These biscuits can be sold at the local market.

Chitin and chitosan
CHITIN
Chitin is (after cellulose) the second most frequently found polymer on our planet. It can be biologically
broken down, and is not poisonous. Chitin is the main component of the exoskeletons of crab, shrimp,
lobster, and insects. Under normal circumstances, chitin is a solid substance. Its colour varies from white to
brown, depending on the organism in which it is present.

This is our homemade chitosan: chitosan from shrimps and insects.
CHITOSAN
Chitosan is produced (commercially) by deacetylation of chitin. Just like chitin, it can be broken down, and
again, is not poisonous. A useful characteristic of chitosan is that it has anti‐bacterial properties.

Chitin and chitosan winning
Our process Cockroaches
Every explanation below corresponds with one of the steps in the process above. ↓
Boiling
From exoskeleton to chitin. [killing]
↓
Each explanation below corresponds with one of the steps in the process above. Peeling
Grinding ↓
We grind the hard parts of our cockroaches with a mortar. Grinding these parts Grinding
↓
enlarges the surface area, ensuring that the enzymes are able to remove the Fermentation
proteins more effectively, and making the acid more effective at removing the ↓
calcium carbonate. This results in a purer chitin than without first grinding the Washing
↓
hard parts. Chitin
Fermentation ↓
1
We put the ground parts of the cockroaches in a sealed reaction vat with a stirring Deacetylation
↓
device, then we add a solution of 1,5% acetic acid and Lactobacillus. Rinsing (water) and
Lactobacillus is a microorganism that can withstand acidic environments very well. drying
↓
Lactobactillus produces protease, an enzyme that can break down proteins into
Chitosan
amino acids, thereby producing lactic acid. De acetic acid is necessary to remove
the calcium carbonate. Acetic acid is far less dangerous than hydrochloric acid and is also less of a burden for
the environment. After this step only the chitin remains.
Washing
After the fermentation step, the pH‐value of the mixture in the reaction vat is lower than 7 due to the acetic
acid and the lactic acid. Deacetylase can’t handle acidic environments, so it is necessary wash the chitin to
provide a neutral environment.

From chitin to chitosan
Deacetylase
We add deacetylase to the chitin, an enzyme that facilitates the conversion from chitin to chitosan. The
chitosan is made by deacetylising chitin, this means that acetyl groups need to be ‘taken off’ of the chitin
molecules. Deacetylase works in plain water, so it is sufficient to add water with the enzyme to the chitin.
Chitosan is worth far more than chitine, because chitosan is better known.
Washing and drying
Washing and drying is necessary to obtain pure chitosan. This part of the process will be done as efficiently
as possible, to conserve valuable water.
Other processes
Chemical process:
From insect & shrimp to chitosan

1
In the process (deacetylation) of chitin into chitosan, the NHCOCH3 group of chitin is replaced by a NH2 group.

As is mentioned in the business plan, we use an enzymatic method to process the cockroaches into chitosan.
This manner of processing is environmentally friendly and poses no danger at all to our factory’s employees.
During the ‘experiment days’ in Delft we used another means of extracting chitin, using a chemical process.
Below is a schematic rendering of this process:

Shrimp scales & insects:
|
1) Washing and grinding.
|
2) Removing proteins [Add lye (NaOH) and leave in a 60° C bath of water for two hours]
An average of 5.02 liters of lye is used per kilo shrimps and insects
|
3) Wash
An average of 24.44 liters of water is used per kilo shrimps and insects
|
4) Demineralise [Add hydrochloric acid (HCl) and leave in a 40° C of water bath for 1 hour.
An average of 5.02 liters of hydrochloric acid is used per kilo shrimps and insects.
|
5) Wash
An average of 28.00 liters of water is used per kilo shrimps and insects.
|
Chitin
|
6) Chitosan production [Add lye]
|
7) Wash and Dry
|
Chitosan
The advantages of our enzymatic process as compared to the chemical process are:
‐We combine points 2 and 4. By applying fermentation, steps 2 and 4 are combined and we can save all the
water needed in step 3, which is 24.44 liter per kilo insects and shrimp.
‐We don’t use dangerous and harmful chemicals like hydrochloric acid and lye.
These advantages mostly mean that we save money and are more environmentally friendly. In addition, we
waste less valuable water, which is scarce and should be used for human consumption.

Below is a schematic rendering of the biological process of extracting chitin from insects and shrimp.
Biological
From insect and shrimp to chitin
Shrimp scales & insects
|
Wash and grind
|
bio‐reaction [protease]
|
chitin

We do utilize a bioreaction with protease, but we don’t do this by adding the enzyme itself. The reason for
doing this is that the enzyme is expensive and hard to produce. Instead, we use a microorganism,
lactobacillius, that produces the protease. Adding this organism means we don’t have to add the expensive
enzyme anymore, as that is done by the lactobacillus.

The application: packing
Using an application
We are going to use chitosan for the production of gemfree, water‐repellent and strong paper. This is one of
the applications of chitosan. The cookies will be wrapped in the impregnated paper.
The paper will be produced by this method: chitosan has to be solved in a solution.
This solution contains: chitosan, acetic acid and water. The verhouding van these stoffen is:
chitosan : acetic acid : water = 1 : 2 : 97

When the solution is ready, the old‐paper will be impregnated on both sides with this solution. We have
tried this out (ourselves) at the TU Delft. There is possibly a beter method when we will have to produce on
bigger scale. For example immerse (onderdompelen!) the paper in a bath of the chitosan solution or maybe
we can use a uge (sproeier)

Packages
The graduation paper of Pui Tjan Wong was
Therefore she invented a campaign. She designed posters, carts, advertisements, brochures, receptcarts and
last but not least packages for insect food. Below this page there are some examples of these packages.

She would like to develop special packages with our gemfree, water‐repellent, strong paper, in cooporation
with us.
Her site is www.ptwong.nl

Which country?
We had the chance to change the whole world. The whole world, which implies anywhere: Africa, Asia,
America, Australia, Antarctica or Europe. Using the world atlas, the internet of course, and Wikipedia, we
took a closer look at third world countries.
After having oriented ourselves, we went on to study Africa. We set up a meeting with Mama Nyanda, from
Tanzania, who had just received a prize from the United Nations for her development work at ‘The World
Habitat Day’ on the 1st of October.
Mama Nyanda told us about development work to help third world countries, and informed us about Lake
Victoria, where a lot of shrimp is farmed. We gathered information about Lake Victoria, and about the
shrimp farming. Looking at the negative press surrounding the shrimp farms, we thought of something else,
a new plan. We decided to look for countries in Africa where eating cockroaches is the norm, but after some
research and talking to an Indonesian woman, we found out that people living in certain parts of Asia do eat
insects. We shifted our attention to Asia.
The following countries were of interest: India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam,
Burma, Bangladesh, China and North Korea. We studied these countries. Do the inhabitants eat
cockroaches? What is it like there?
Using the newest technology, the World Wide Web, or Internet, we e‐mailed and phoned embassies in these
countries. After having done some research, we found out that cockroaches are eaten in Thailand, where
they are even considered a delicacy! Using the internet, we found dishes which used cockroaches as
ingredients, along with people’s opinions of these dishes. B. Cesar (Christine of info@ebook‐thailand.nl)
confirmed this in his e‐mail, and the infamous YouTube contributed with various videos.
Furthermore, Thailand is a country with many destroyed mangroves. After getting the green light and full
support from the executive director of the Netherlands – Thai Chamber of Commerce, there wasn’t any
doubt as to which country to choose.
The biggest setback, however, is the language. None of us speak Thai, so any meeting will have to be set up
through a translator. On the other hand, this is a problem we would have experienced in all the other Asian
countries as well, and we’re sure there is a good translator somewhere in Thailand. We think it is a good
idea to employ a Thai with a bachelor of science, about which more in Appendix M. All in all, we think now
that the language barrier is not a big problem and certainly one which can be overcome.

Thailand
General information
Area 514,000 km2 (14 times the size of the Netherlands)
Capital Bangkok
Population 65 million (2006)
Population Density 125.7 inhabitants per km2
Languages Thai, Chinese, English, Karen, Mon and various Hill Tribe‐languages
Climate Tropical

Social situation
Thailand has done well with realizing the international Millennium Goals. Doing a good job on fighting
poverty, shortage of food, the social difference between sexes, HIV/AIDS and Malaria, Thailand is ahead of
schedule in terms of the goals set in 2000. Thailand is now looking to improve further, trying to complete
more ambitious goals. Here are some figures to show the improvements: 1990 counted 27,2% of the Thai
population living in poverty, whilst 2002 has seen this number shrink to 9,8%. Despite these major
improvements, around half of the population are active in the informal economy, which results in the lack of
full time job opportunities remaining a big problem. Many poor Thai feel forced to accept hard and poorly‐
paid labour, their low income creates a vicious circle of poverty.
Electricity
Just like the Netherlands, Thailand uses 220 Volt sockets, but the sockets Thailand uses are often different (3
flat poles opposed to the two round poles the Dutch use).
Why invest in Thailand?
"The most important thing for foreign investors in Thailand would be the people and the culture. The people
are very friendly, which makes it easy and makes it a nice working place. Besides that, Thai people are very
dedicated."

Ronald de Hann
Managing Director, Grampian Food Siam Limited
"We need to make sure that when we put a big investment in any country, it will be a stable situation that
we can rely on the rules and the way that business is done. And we have felt that confidence in Thailand."

David Levy
Chairman and Managing Director, ExxonMobil Limited

"The top three attributes that clearly differentiate Thailand from many other countries in the region and
throughout the world are: government support, the work ethic and attitude of the people and the skilled
resource pool."

Brent Lee Bargmann
Vice President, Seagate Technology (Thailand) Ltd.
"The very stable social and economic situation of recent times, the very strong political stability, are the
hallmark of Thailand at the moment. Also, Thailand is obviously a very strategic location ‐ part of Indo‐China
and the rest of Asia."

James Howard
Managing Director, Katoen Natie Sembcorp (Thailand) Ltd.
"There are lots of strengths in Thailand. The top three, I would say, are supporting industries strengths,
quality labor and social and economic stability. I should not forget the strong support of the Thai
government, which is also very important."

Ryoichi Sasaki
President, Toyota Motor Thailand Co., Ltd.

2

Factory

2
importfood.com/media/cpma0803.jpg

Description
Our factory can be seen as three small factories: a seed‐bed, where cockroaches will be efficiently
produced; a space where the cockroaches are peeled and then processed into chitosan; and a bakery where
the flesh of cockroaches will made into flour from which the nutritious cookies are made. There are also two
other rooms: a canteen where our employees will have their breaks and where materials can be stored, and
a storage room for sacks of flour, sacks of chitosan, ingredients, tools and other things.
Work Environment
To create a nice work environment, there has to be a radio. Work will be much easier and people will be
much happier and more joyful with background music.

Budget

One‐time costs
COSTS INCOME
OUT (€) IN (€)
Building 15.000 Imagine contest

money
25.000

Ground
Infrastructure
One‐time costs 8.000
Materials 2.000

Total 25.000 Total 25.000

Annual costs

COSTS INCOME
OUT (€) IN (€)
Ground 700 Chitosan 5.200
Salary 2.000 Cookies pm.
Unexpected costs 100
Total 2800 Total 2600
Budget 1 year
*In our budget, we did not include the prize money. In this scenario, we can pay off our start‐up costs in 5
years. If we win the contest, these costs can be removed from the budget.
Detailed budget
• Building
Building surface 300 m2, height 3,5 m; interior space +/‐ 1000 m3. The building is of stone, has a roof
of corrugated iron, 1 big room and four small rooms.

• Land
600 m2, the costs for such a surface is €25,00/m2/jaar, which means 15,000 m2 of euro/jaar.
• Infrastructure
Electricity/water/sewage.
• Onetime costs
Cockroach tanks: €1000 x 5 = €5000,00
Gas stove: €100,00
Pots and pans: €100,00
• Storage tanks / sieves / buckets / stirring vats: €500,00
2 stirring vats: €500,00
Costs for enzymes: €900,00
Oven: €100
• Materials
Work clothing: €250,00
• Salary
We pay our regular employees 4 x 1,3 x minimum wage.
We pay the manager 1 x 1,6 x minimum wage.
For 5 employees this will be €2000 monthly.
• Unexpected costs
We do not want to make a profit with our company, so we will use our profits as a buffer for
unexpected costs.

Problems
Travelling eggs
If a cockroach escapes, it could get squashed. Eggs can then stick to shoe soles and travel along until they
have reached a good spot to release themselves. If one of our employees happens to squash a roach,
chances are there that the employee will have a major cockroach invasion in no time.
Solution: We will lay down a mat (like the ones used for avian flu etc.) at the exit of our nursery, to make
sure that all the eggs will be killed, and the shoes of our employees will be disinfected.
Outbreak
What if, despite all of our precautions, some cockroaches manage to escape? What does it take to make sure
that the surrounding area isn’t infested by roaches in no time?
Solution: There is a wonderful gel called ‘Premise Gel’. This product contains a lure that attracts roaches and
all other sorts of insects. As soon as they smell it, they will do anything to feed on the gel. After that, they
will die in an instant. It is an effective little thing, because it remains “solid”. The gel doesn’t evaporate, it is
not poisonous for humans, and is easy to use if an outbreak were to occur. We don’t have to evacuate the
entire building, and the bugs can be swept up and thrown away. Piece of cake.
Not enough cockroach flour
If the production of our own nutritious and protein rich flour lags, then our cookie production will stop. How
can we continue to produce our cookies?
Solution: We will buy flour, so that we can continue to bake cookies with a mix of our own and purchased
flour. This way the cookies remain nutritious, and our production continues, until we reach a point when we
are able to produce enough flour ourselves.
Chitosan sale doesn’t flourish
It could happen that our chitosan doesn’t sell as well as we thought it would. What can we do to retain our
factory?
Solution: Once again we will try to improve our chitosan, find other solutions, and look for help elsewhere. If
all fails, but the sale of the cookies goes well, we can switch to just producing cookies. Perhaps it is even
possible to increase our cookie production, and get all of our needed income from that.
All the cockroaches are sick
Though cockroaches are notorious for resisting nearly everything and for rarely suffering from disease, we
must take into account the possibility of an epidemic spreading among the cockroaches. In that case it
would be too risky continuing to breed the roaches and bake cookies from their meat.
Solution: we kill all of our cockroaches and use only our chitosan application. We disinfect our entire
breeding installation and make a fresh start.

Communication problems
Communication with the Thai turns out to be problematic. Though we are located near a city, we do not
succeed in communicating effectively in English with our employees.
Solution: there are several ways to tackle this problem.
1. Employ an interpreter.
2. Have the non‐Thai‐speakers who start up the project attend a Thai language course.
3. Provide a basic English language course for our employees.
4. Employ a Thai BSc in Food Technology. He or she will possess technical know‐how that comes in
handy and will speak English.

Fruit
Perhaps we are not able to buy enough fruit from local farmers due to low production.
Solution: Cockroaches eat nearly everything, so it shouldn’t be difficult to find alternative food for them. A
promising plan is to ask neighbours to bring fresh kitchen and garden refuse to the factory. We wouldn’t use
any old waste because it must be hygienic and free of pathogens.

Publicity
Promotion and solid networks are two vital ingredients for the success of our project. We took this subject very
seriously while writing our business plan. Our contacts list (Appendix A) shows those with whom we worked.
‘Explore’
We have already produced articles in ‘Explore’, a Dutch science magazine.
Website
At the start of our project, we launched the website http://pwsimagine.wordpress.com. This website contains the
details of the competition, as well as a log, pictures, and written articles.
Future promotion plans
If our project is to be approved, we will make sure that we get more publicity. We have already made a deal with
Movie W, a small cinema in Wageningen, to play a movie about cockroaches. We will provide background
information by means of presentation, and details considering our project. On top of all this, we will continue to
write articles for Explore magazine, and we hope that ‘Bionieuws’ and the newspaper de Volkskrant are willing to
publish our articles.
With Pui Tjong Wang, an advertising expert, we made an appointment to evaluate possible scenarios for our
campaign.

Acknowledgment
*The most of our information we get from people who you can see in the face book.
BAD SHRIMP INDUSTRIES & DESTROYED MANGROVES
Site’s:
‐ http://www.mangroveactionproject.org

Author: unknown. Date: 21 July 2007.
Title: Shrimp business faces woes on three fronts – Thailand,
‐ http://www.mangroveactionproject.org/news/current_headlines/shrimp‐business‐faces‐woes‐on‐three‐
fronts‐thailand/?searchterm=vietnam

Author: G. Murray. Date: unknown.
Title: Thailand’s Disappearing Mangroves: Factors in the Destruction of a Resource,
‐ http://www.umich.edu/~esupdate/library/99.3‐4/murray.html

Author: P. Erftemeijer Date: 10 June 1997.
Title: Community Participation in Mangrove Forest Management and Rehabilitation in Southern Thailand
‐ http://www.ramsar.org/wn/w.n.thailand_mangroves.htm

Author: unknown Date: 29 July 2003
Title: Garnalenkwekerijen bedreigen mangroven, de regenwouden van de kusten‐
http://www.greenpeace.nl/news/garnalenkwekerijen‐bedreigen‐m

Magazine’s:
Author: Date: June 2004
Title: Shrimps with a nasty taste,
Magazine: Goede Waar
‐ www.goedewaar.nl/magazine/11‐Goede%20Waar%2011.pdf

THAILAND
‐ google earth

Site’s:
‐ http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thailand
‐ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thailand

Author: RTL‐news Date: 12 December 2007
Title: Elections in Thailand
http://www.rtl.nl/(/actueel/rtlnieuws/buitenland/articleview/)/components/actueel/rtlnieuws/2007/12_de

cember/23/buitenland/1223_0900_Verkiezingen_Thailand.xml

Books:
Author: Sjon Hauser
Title: on a visit in Thailand
Publisher: KIT Publishers, Amsterdam 2007

Author: Valerie Hill
Title: Thailand
Publisher: KIT, Amsterdam
NOVIB, The Hague, 2001
EATING INSECTS & THE FOODFACTORY PROJECT
Paper’s & Magazine’s
Author: de Standaard Date: 23 January 2008
Title: Like a plate cockroaches?
‐ http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=2D1MSPK0

Author: Bodytalk Date: October 2007
Title: Proteins on pootjes?
Magazine: Bodytalk
‐http://www.bugsacademy.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id= 5&Itemid=5

Author: NRC Date: December 2007
Title: Less meat is neccesery
Paper: NRC Handelsblad

Author: Ode Date: January/February 2008
Title: We should eat insects
Magazine: Ode

Author: Olmo Linthorst Date: 9 January 2008
Title: Duch people eat more out of there house – introduction bugs
Paper: NRC Handelsblad

Author: Agraaf Date: 12 January 2008
Title: Dutch insects as vervanger? of meat
Magazine: Agraaf

Author: Arnold van Huis Date: 2007
Title: Insects as food

Magazine: Insects and society

Site’s:
Author: Horecava Date: January 2008
Title: Insects spectacle

Author : Mas Yoris de Vaal Date: 17 January 2008
Title: walking protein‐bombs
‐ http://www.oneworld.nl/index.php?page=2&articleId=13367 (ook over foodfactory)

‐ http://www.bugsacademy.nl/images/pdfs/insecten_spektakel_ horecava_2008.pdf (Us promoting insects
as food)
‐ http://www.horecava.nl/horecava2008/n (Us promoting insects as food)

Cookery Books:
Author: Ronald L. Taylor, Barbara J. Carter
Title: Entertaining with Insects.
Publisher: Woordbridge Press Pub, 1976

Author: David George Gordon
Title: The Eat‐A‐Bug
Publisher: Ten Speed Press, 1998

COCKROACHES
Site’s:
‐ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockraoch
‐ http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakkerlak
‐ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkywoXNteOE (eating cockroach)

Books:

Author: Eugène Bruins
Title: illustrated terrarium enceklopedy
Publisher: REBO productions, 1999

Author: Peter de JOng ea. From Wageningen University – Entomology
Title: Muggenzifters en Mierenneukers
Publisher: unknown, 2007
CHITIN AND CHITOSAN

Articles:


Author: Majeti N.V. Ravi Kumar Date: January 2000;
Title: A review of chitin and chitosan applications

Author: M.S. Rao, J. Muñoz, W.F. Stevens Date: 2000
Title: Critical factors in chitin production by fermentation of shrimp biowaste

Author: Urjan Jacobs
Title: ‐ Important numbers
‐ production processes

Books:
Author: Wolters‐Noordhoff
Title: Binas (table 67)
Publisher: Wolters‐Noordhoff, 2004
Site’s:
‐ http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitosan
‐ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitin
‐ http://www.chitosan.no/site/maler/x/?case_vis=inquiry
‐ http://www.igb.fraunhofer.de/www/gf/Biokatalyse/en/GFBK_221_Chitosan. en.html
(Figure deacetylase)
Author: Rachel A. Brennan Date: 2005‐2006
Title: Passive Remediation of Acid Mine Drainage Using Chitin‐‐
‐ http://www.pawatercenter.psu.edu/research_projects/06_07_brennan_chitin.

Author: France chitin Date: unknown
Title: Chitin, Chitosan and derivatives.
‐ http://www.france‐chitine.com/chitosan.e.html

Author: Thailabonline Date: unknown
Title: Lowly shrimp shells could yield jumbo benefits, researchers say
‐ http://www.thailabonline.com/chitin‐chitosan.htm
APPLICATIONS
Site’s:
‐ http://www.tradekey.com/buyoffer_view/id/107211.htm
‐ http://buy.ecplaza.net/search/1s1nf20sell/chitin.html

Author: Environnement Magazine, France
‐ http://www.centexbel.be/Nl/research_project_chitexII.htm
OTHER INFORMATION
Site’s:

Land choice:
‐ http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/destinations/africa/benin/
‐ nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benin
‐ benin.startpagina.nl/
‐ www.minbuza.nl/nl/reizenlanden/landen,beninhtml
‐ www.aktiebenin.nl
‐ www.landenweb.net/benin
‐ www.mfa.nl/cot
‐ www.diplomatie.be/nl/travel/countrydetail.aspCOUNTRYNAMENL=BENIN ‐
‐ http://www.lepont.nl/4e%20uitgave%20lepontactuel.pdf
‐http://www.isonline.nl/?node_id=62531

Shrimps:
‐ http://www.kreeftengarnalen.nl/site/
‐ http://www.rug.nl/intrabe/nieuws/archief/060612PromotieVoThiThanhLoc
How to write a businessplan:
‐ www.bidnetwork.org
Visualising of building:
‐ Visualization by Mariska van Rijswijk, third years student building engineering University Delft

Important numbers
Mass of cockroach 4 gram
Water percentage of a cockroach 40%
Mass dried cockroach 2,4 gram
Chitin percentage in a dried cockroach 35%
Chitosan extractable from chitin 60%
Chitosan extractable from a cockroach 12,6%
Market price chitosan €50,00 per kilo
Minimum wage 184 Baht = 3.76 euro
Cost ingredients ingredient price/ kilo baht or euro?

Flour 0,68
Butter 0,60
Sugar 0,70
Price gas/water/electricity Price gas: 1,5 – 5 Baht per KWh

Price water: €0,20 per m3
Price electricity: €1,10

MMAENGA

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Building 15.000 Imagine contest

Ground 700 Chitosan 5.200

Salary 2.000 Cookies pm.

Total 2800 Total 2600

Future promotion plans

Cost ingredients ingredient price/ kilo baht or euro?

Price gas/water/electricity Price gas: 1,5 – 5 Baht per KWh

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